this document explains which was the main cause why did World War I begin.

1. How did World War I begin?
Called the Great War until World War II (1939–45), World War I (1914–18) was
sparked by the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary (1863–
1914) on June 28, 1914. Ferdinand was shot by Serbian political activist Gvrilo Princip
(1894–1918) in Sarajevo, which was then the capital of Austria-Hungary's province of
Bosnia-Herzegovina. Princip assassinated the archduke because Ferdinand angered
Serbian nationalists, among others, when he tried to expand the Austro-Hungarian
monarchy into a triple monarchy that included a Slavic kingdom under Croatian
leadership. Since Princip was known to have ties to a Serbian terrorist organization,
Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Both sides believed the battle would be
decided quickly. Instead the warfare spread, eventually involving more countries and
lasting for four years. World War I was considered to be the war to end all wars...
Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria
The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, which led to the
outbreak of World War I, occurred on 28 June 1914 in Sarajevo, then part of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire. Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, was
traveling with his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg in an open-topped car when both
were shot dead by Gavrilo Princip, one of a group of six assassins coordinated by
Danilo Ilić.
The political objective of the assassination was to break Austria-Hungary's south-Slav
provinces off so they could be combined into a Greater Serbia or a Yugoslavia. The
assassins' motives were consistent with the movement that later became known as
Young Bosnia. At the top of these Serbian military conspirators was Chief of Serbian
Military Intelligence Dragutin Dimitrijević, his right hand man Major Vojislav
Tankosić, and Masterspy Rade Malobabić. Major Tankosić armed (with bombs and
pistols) and trained the assassins, and the assassins were given access to the same
underground railroad that Rade Malobabić used for the infiltration of weapons and
operatives into Austria-Hungary.
The assassins, the key members of the underground railway, and the key Serbian
military conspirators who were still alive were arrested, tried, convicted and punished.
Those who were arrested in Bosnia were tried in Sarajevo in October 1914. The other
conspirators were arrested and tried before a Serbian kangaroo court in French-occupied

2. Salonika in 1916–1917 on unrelated false charges[; Serbia executed the top three
military conspirators. Much of what is known about the assassinations comes from these
two trials and related records.
Assignment of responsibility for the bombing and murders of 28 June is highly
controversial because the attack led to the outbreak of World War I one month later. An
evidential approach must be taken to weed through the various claims and counter-
claims concerning responsibility.
ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:
1. How did World War I begin?
2. Who was Francis Ferdinand?
3. Which was the political objective of the assassination?
4. Who assassinate Francis Ferdinand?
5. When did World War I begin?